Like a common reptile, traditional EVs (is that even something we can say yet?) are wildly influenced by the temperature. Too hot? Well that's no good battery life and range will suffer. Too cold? That's not good, either. So rather than have the navigation guide the car to large, hot rocks or cool, dark tunnels to regulate things, they've simply added a closed-circuit liquid temperature regulation system. Something most mammals should be familiar with.
The liquid-filled system consisting of a pump, some heat exchangers, a chiller and a heater, runs a thermally conductive liquid over the batteries at varying speeds and temperatures to keep them in peak condition. This means no overheating like we experienced with our Long Term Mini E.
Not that this system is exclusive, Chevy uses a similar system passing fluid over heavily-filled battery packs on the Chevy Volt and Tesla also utilizes a liquid cooling system.
soareyes says:
07:10 AM, 09/ 3/10
I don't think the Leaf uses a liquid cooling system, just forced air.
Mike Magrath replied to comment from soareyes
07:36 AM, 09/ 3/10
You're 100% right. It was the Tesla. Sorry.
-mm
ed124c says:
07:47 AM, 09/ 3/10
More weight. Just what a small battery powered car needs. This begs me to ask: As the batteries get lighter due to battery advances, does the heating/cooling apparatus need to be larger, negating any weight loss? Or is it a win-win situation?
p00pman says:
11:52 AM, 09/ 3/10
Please mike, learn how to use commas. do you mean... well that's no good[comma] battery life and range will suffer? You are the only journalist that does this all the time on IL. Do you ever proofread your articles and ask yourself, "This might be confusing the way I wrote this?"